Al Qaeda Puts Out Wide Call For Fighters To Enter 'Holy War' In Mali

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has called for jihad in Mali, a
monitoring group said Tuesday, after four days of suicide attacks
and guerrilla fighting in territory French-led forces reclaimed
from Islamist rebels.

The call to holy war from AQAP, the global network's Yemen-based
branch -- which US officials have labelled Al-Qaeda's most
dangerous franchise -- came as troops sought to tighten a
security lock-down in Gao, the largest city in northern Mali and
the target of a string of Islamist attacks.

AQAP condemned France's month-old military intervention against
Islamist groups in the partially desert nation as a "crusader
campaign against Islam", and called on Muslims everywhere to join
the fight against it, the SITE Intelligence agency said.

"Supporting the Muslims in Mali is a duty for every capable
Muslim with life and money, everyone according to their ability,"
AQAP's Sharia Committee said in a statement reported by US-based
SITE, which monitors extremist Internet forums.

It said jihad is "more obligatory on the people who are closer"
to the fight and that "helping the disbelievers against Muslims
in any form is apostasy".

The statements were an apparent reference to north African
countries, notably Algeria, where Islamist gunmen attacked a gas
field after the government agreed to let French warplanes use
Algerian airspace, unleashing a hostage crisis that left 37
foreigners dead.

France launched its operation in Mali on January 11, after the
interim government requested help against Islamist insurgents who
had seized the north for 10 months and were advancing into
southern territory.

Paris sent in fighter jets, attack helicopters and 4,000 troops,
racking up a string of early successes as French and African
soldiers drove the extremists from Gao, Timbuktu and the rest of
the towns under their control.

But the Islamists have now started a campaign of suicide attacks,
landmine explosions and guerrilla fighting -- a troubling turn
for France, which is eager to wind down the operation in its
former colony and hand over to United Nations peacekeepers.

Troops from Mali and Niger patrolled the streets of Gao Tuesday
making periodic arrests, after four days of violence that began
with back-to-back suicide bombings and an attack on the city
centre by fighters from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in
West Africa (MUJAO).

Malian Defence Minister Yamoussa Camara said three Islamists had
been killed in the fighting on Sunday and 11 captured. Three
Malian soldiers were slightly wounded, he said.

"People are afraid because of the security situation and because
we're making arrests," said a Malian officer.

Security forces continue to discover stockpiles of explosives and
ammunition throughout Gao every day, a Malian military source
said.

The rebels staged Sunday's attack from Gao's central police
station.

The next day a French attack helicopter destroyed the building in
a pre-dawn assault that left body parts and unexploded grenades
strewn across the debris.

One witness said an Islamist fighter inside the police station
had blown himself up.

-- Hundreds of child soldiers --

Paris announced last week it would begin bringing its troops home
in March. It wants some 8,000 African troops slowly being
deployed to be incorporated into a UN peacekeeping mission.

But UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said Monday "there
is still hesitation from the government of Mali."

In any case, he added, the situation on the ground would first
have to be more stable and any UN peacekeeping force there would
require a UN resolution.

Mali imploded after a March 22 coup by soldiers who blamed the
government for the army's humiliation at the hands of north
African Tuareg rebels, who have long complained of being
marginalised by Bamako.

With the capital in disarray, Al-Qaeda-linked fighters hijacked
the Tuareg rebellion and took control of the north.

The head of the UN Children's Fund in Mali told AFP that armed
groups in the north have recruited hundreds of children into
their ranks.

"We need to be ready to take care of a lot of children" involved
in the conflict, UNICEF's Francoise Ackermans warned.